I have a collection of old mags (1949--mid '60's) --bought recently on ebay--Practical Science--Mechanix Illustrated--and others---In the automobile reviews,
they say nothing about seat belts--the pics of the front seat do not show seat belts--the magazine's new car drivers talk about how "stable"
the car is at 80 miles an hour on curvy roads--etc-etc. About 1955/56--Ford Motor company factory engineers recommended installing
"anchor points" for the seat belts for about $10 a car on the assembly line, and the dealer could install seat belts if the buyer wanted them-
The engineering department head brought this up at a Board Meeting----the seat belt issue was dismissed along with the notion that seat belts
reminded the public that cars are dangerous--the next year they pushed collapsible steering wheels, and padded dash--but still no
seat belts----The Volvo in the med '60's were the first production cars to have 3 point--shoulder and lap belts installed at the factory-
I had 2 Volvos in those years--So moving along to to this "British Car Forum"--I have restored 2 Morris Minors, an Austin A35,
1951 MGTD, and a 1952 MGYB--
and 3 Nash Metropolitans (they are British, you know)--and installed 3 point --shoulder belts and seat belts in all of them--
Side note--one of the mags in their automobile "handy hints" section--showed a drawing of a "net" that you could fasten across the passenger seat-
anchored on the door post, and then to the center/top of the dash--this would keep the little tykes secure and not do a dashboard (or worse)
faceplant in case of an accident--yeah--sure!
they say nothing about seat belts--the pics of the front seat do not show seat belts--the magazine's new car drivers talk about how "stable"
the car is at 80 miles an hour on curvy roads--etc-etc. About 1955/56--Ford Motor company factory engineers recommended installing
"anchor points" for the seat belts for about $10 a car on the assembly line, and the dealer could install seat belts if the buyer wanted them-
The engineering department head brought this up at a Board Meeting----the seat belt issue was dismissed along with the notion that seat belts
reminded the public that cars are dangerous--the next year they pushed collapsible steering wheels, and padded dash--but still no
seat belts----The Volvo in the med '60's were the first production cars to have 3 point--shoulder and lap belts installed at the factory-
I had 2 Volvos in those years--So moving along to to this "British Car Forum"--I have restored 2 Morris Minors, an Austin A35,
1951 MGTD, and a 1952 MGYB--
and 3 Nash Metropolitans (they are British, you know)--and installed 3 point --shoulder belts and seat belts in all of them--
Side note--one of the mags in their automobile "handy hints" section--showed a drawing of a "net" that you could fasten across the passenger seat-
anchored on the door post, and then to the center/top of the dash--this would keep the little tykes secure and not do a dashboard (or worse)
faceplant in case of an accident--yeah--sure!